Monday, April 30, 2012

Many around the world are still hopelessly awaiting the return of Jeremy Lin to the NBA ranks. However, Jeremy Lin's latest practice session says otherwise. After shooting around in non contact situations, it appears that he's still recovering and should take it slow and easy. Better to worry about his career than limping along in the playoffs.

While Jeremy Lin was out, the 76ers will cold and the Knicks held steady to get into the playoffs. The Knicks have already lost ugly to the second seeded Miami Heat. Things don't look good for the Knicks to make it late in playoff. Heck, after the first game, it looks like a sweep. Melo and STAT are squarely to blame for this lost Knick season.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

為你而來 (Come For You) is being release in Taipei this weekend. From the trailer, it looks like a Taiwan gal goes to China in search of the ancestal home of an eldering man in her care. Once there, a very good looking tour guide with an eye around the photo lens takes her on her quest. Sparks seem to fly!

Saturday, April 28, 2012

July is the only month of the year where school isn't in session for traditional schools. Summer school doesn't count. And Fourth of July usually includes one of the years most anticipated films. In our case, 2012's July has the bookend to the Batman's trilogy and Spider-man's reboot. Looks to be another exciting July.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Last week, the new MV, Super Lover, from Roomie was released. It's a pretty awesome video. The Roomie gals are an legitimate group for the Taiwan market. They have a little of that Korean girl group flare. Being part of the AVEX family might have something to do with it. If you follow them via Facebook, you'll know that they're much more down to earth than the the video presents. I would imagine that's the case for most artist.

I wrote about Roomie last August and it's one of my most viewed posts. Just this week, it's gotten over a thousand views. That's a lot for this little blog.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Last night was the third episode of the seventh season of America's Best Dance Crew. The super star for this week was good ol' Madonna. Each crew was given a song with a certain style to mimic and present. This week was special in that TWO crews were up for elimination. When all was said and done, the other American crews were eliminated. Funkdation from Mexico and Irratik from Canada had to collect their banner.

Of the seven crews left, I like Mos Wanted Crew the best. Elektrolytes and Fanny Pak follow closely behind. However, I think the final three will be Fanny Pak, Mos Wanted Crew, and 8 Flavahz. The power of the kids should not be underestimated. Who even watches MTV anymore. A bunch of tweens. I only watch MTV for ABDC and maybe the awards they give out for music and movies.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The Cabin in the Woods (詭屋) is an 2012 film. The movie stars Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, and Jesse Williams. The movie was conceived by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard helped to finalize the story. The movie trailer gives a lot away, but not the most important aspects.

5 college kids set out on a trip into the woods for a weekend. Once they get to the cabin, funny things start to happen. As the five get acclimated to the cabin, they find a underground basement. However, during this time, they are being observed and "controlled". Will the five survive the horror?

I can't give out much more than what the trailer gives. The movie would be simi ruined for you with spoilers. My thoughts on the movie are that the trailer gives out way too much information. If they kept it a zombie movie and sprung the unique concept of the movie on us, I think I would have liked the surprise effect. The acting the movie was pretty bad. The story had lots of holes, but every movie does. You do what you can to enjoy what's presented. In my case, I was half. The movie's being watched aspect was given away and the other mystery wasn't all that impressive. But it was a fun movie and I enjoyed it as a whole. I won't be watching it again.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

台北飄雪 (Snowfall In Taipei) is being released in Taipei this weekend. The movie stars Wilson Chen as an ordinary guy that finds a wayward pop star. Of course it looks like they fall for each other. Looks like a rom-com, but more rom.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Chronicle (超能失控) is an 2012 film. The movie stars Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, and Alex Russell. The film's style is on "real life" video devices such as camcorders, video phones, closed circuit television, etc. The movie is spliced together in sequence by these devices.

The film starts with Andrew blocking the door from a drunk father. Andrew announces to his father that he's going to record everything from now on. Andrew is picked up by his cousin Matt to goto school. You see via video that Andrew isn't popular and is bullied while at school. That night, Andrew's father burges into his room and slams him to the floor for refusing to open the door in the morning. Andrew decides to goto a party with his cousin Matt. At the party, Matt and one of the most popular kids in school, Steve is there. They ask Andrew to video tape them getting into a hole in the ground. All three jump and find an extraterrestrial "ship". All three touch it and the ground starts to shake. The film picks up again in a back yard with the three boys seemingly controlling objects a la telekinesis. The three boys soon because best friends and test the limits of their new found powers. During a talent show, Steve hatches a plan to make Andrew popular via a magic show to hide the powers. At the after party, drinking too much, Andrew up chucks on a gal and is made fun of at school. Andrew's family continues to get worst as his father's not able to pay for medicine for his cancer ridden mother. Andrew starts to use his powers for bad things. In a fit of rage, Andrew directs thunder to strike Steve dead in the clouds. Matt starts to shun Andrew because of his increasing erratic behavior. Eventually, Andrew goes on the deep end and Matt most stop him.

The movie was hard to watch in some areas because of the motion. Back in the day, I was never able to finish blair witch because of this. It was that bad this time around, but it was stressful to maintain my balance sometimes. The movie itself presented a rags to riches story with a huge fall at the end. The story was straight forward and really makes you think of "with great powers, comes great responsibility". In the end, it was a good concept and I enjoyed the movie. A one time paid viewing experience and I'd watch it on a movie channel for free.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Raid: Redemption (全面突襲) is an 2011 film out of Indonesia. The movie stars Iko Uwais. Directed by Welsh-man Gareth Evans. The movie already has a sequel linked to it.

Iko plays a rookie swat member. The swat team is sent into a gang invested building to take out its larger than life boss. The swat team is to make minimal contact and take the prisoners in. However, they are discovered and the boss offers a bounty for their heads. The tenants along with the boss's henchmen get in on the action of killing the swat members. However, a few make it out now much escape the building with no backup in sight.

This movie was very violent. The action is abundant, but the story behind it is very weak. There are many holes in the story, but that's not why you're watching this. You're watching this for the insane action. In this action movie edition, the close range knife fighting is explored and glorified for the viewers pleasure. With fast action and well choreographed fights, its a sight to behold. Take your thinking caps off and throw it in the dumpster, this movie is all about the action.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Last night was the second episode of the seventh season of America's Best Dance Crew. Unlike the first five seasons, we're introduced to only 5 of the 10 teams like in season 6. The second five teams competed this week to impress the judges. But only 4 will move on. The bottom crew from last week, Mix'd Elements, and the bottom crew from this week, Funk Dation battled it out for the remaining open spot. In the end, it was Mix'd Elements' banner that fell.

This week, from the eye ball observation, only Mos Wanted Crew had any Asians. Mos Wanted Crew also established themselves as one of the teams to beat. The other 4 crews didn't impress me much. But they had to bring in two kid crews this season, with Rated Next Generation holding the banner this week.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Recent news out of Hollywood is that Iron Man 3 is going to be co-produced with an Zhong Guo partner firm, DMG. This could be both good and bad news. As an long time Iron man fan, I always had some problems with the origin and the main nemesis, Mandarin. Whether its the comic books or the cartoons, the Mandarin is presented in a "yellow peril" fashion. The US entertainment routinely plays off this even to today a la 2 Broke Girls. Although American Asians have made strides in the US, in the eyes of most US people who are not Asian, they will still be regarded as foreigners. You can see that recently with some of the attitudes toward Jeremy Lin.

What does this mean for Iron Man 3? It may mean that the Mandarin isn't Chinese. Yay! No stupid "ching chong" stereotypes that make me cringe. However, if you ask people in Zhong Guo, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, they have no idea what Yellow Peril is. Because they do that to "foreigners" in their own country with not even a second thought. Yellow Peril is offensive to Asians who grew up in the US and demand "fair" treatment. In Asian, its just how things are. Which makes me think that when that Ting Tong Mandarin character is floated to the DMG guys, they'll have no problems with it. Never mind that its offensive to American Asians.

I have hopes that they'll stay off the beaten path and float a sensible villain that is based on "evil" vs. race. That's what movies have a problem with. But that's also the beauty and horror of movies, you've got limited time to present your material. Stereotypes go a long way to move the story along. Stay classy Disney, Marvel, and DMG.

Monday, April 16, 2012

棄城Z-108 (Zombie 108) was release this past weekend in Taipei. Dubbed the first Zombie movie from Taiwan. Well ... I got a problem with that. The Chinese Zombie/Vampires have existed in movies for many many years. The debate could be if they are vampires or zombies. Vampires because they want the life essence of their prey, but zombies because they have no smarts.

In this movie, from the trailer, it looks like a take on the "american" side of zombiehood. I want in on this. Come to LA in DVD form quickly.